Norman Anil Kumar Browne

Air Chief Marshal
N. A. K. Browne
PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC
Air Chief Marshal N. A. K. Browne PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC
Indian Ambassador to Norway
	In office; 30 August 2014 – 30 April 2016
President	Pranab Mukherjee
Preceded by	ACM Pradeep Vasant Naik
Succeeded by	Arup Raha
52nd Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee
	In office; 31 August 2012 – 31 December 2013
President	Pranab Mukherjee
Preceded by	Nirmal Kumar Verma
Succeeded by	Bikram Singh
20th Chief of the Air Staff (India)
	In office; 31 July 2011 – 31 December 2013
President	Pratibha Patil ; Pranab Mukherjee
Preceded by	Pradeep Vasant Naik
Succeeded by	Arup Raha
Personal details
Born	15 December 1951 (age 72); Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India
Spouse	Kiran Browne
Children	Group Captain Omar Browne (son) ; Alisha Browne (daughter)
Nickname	'Charlie' Browne
Military service
Allegiance	India
Branch/service	Indian Air Force
Years of service	1972 - 2013
Rank	Air Chief Marshal
Commands	Western Air Command; AFS Lohegaon; 16 Squadron
Service Number	13129
Awards	Param Vishist Seva Medal; Ati Vishist Seva Medal (AVSM); Vayu Sena Medal (VM);

Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne, PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC also known as "Charlie" Browne, is a former Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) of the Indian Air Force. He served in this position from 31 July 2011 to 31 Dec 2013. Browne served as India's Ambassador to Norway from August 2014 to April 2016.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Personal life

Browne was brought up in Allahabad and did his schooling from St. Joseph's College, Allahabad. He is married to Mrs. Kiran Browne. Together, they have a son, Omar, who serves as a fighter pilot in the IAF; and a daughter, Alisha.^[4]

Military career

Browne is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy^[5] and also trained with the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force on Jaguar aircraft before commanding a Jaguar squadron. A graduate of Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell Air Force Base, USA, he has held many appointments including Joint Director at Air War Strategy Cell at Air Headquarters, Chief Operations Officer and Air Officer Commanding of a Sukhoi Su-30 base, Air-I at Western Air Command and Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Intelligence) at Air Headquarters.^[6] Browne was commissioned into the fighter stream of the IAF on 24 June 1972.

As a fighter pilot, he has logged over 3,100 hours flying Hunters, Jaguars, MiG-21s and Su-30MKIs,^[7] and has served as an instructor at the Tactics and Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) and Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington.

Air Chief Marshal Browne became Vice Chief of the Air Staff until 31 July 2011, when he replaced outgoing Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik. Prior to taking over as the Vice Chief of the Air Staff in January 2011, he served as the AOC-in-C of Western Air Command.^[8] Upon the retirement of Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma, Browne became the new Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee.^[9] Browne was later replaced by Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha.^[10]

Awards

Param Vishisht Seva Medal		Ati Vishisht Seva Medal
Vayusena Medal	General Service Medal 1947	Paschimi Star	Sangram Medal
Operation Parakram Medal	Sainya Seva Medal	Videsh Seva Medal	50th Anniversary of Independence Medal
25th Anniversary of Independence Medal	30 Years Long Service Medal	20 Years Long Service Medal	9 Years Long Service Medal

Diplomatic career

Browne served as India's Ambassador to Norway from 30 August 2014 to April 2016.^[11]^[12]

References

^ Ambassador's Profile
^ Air Chief Marshal (Retd.) N.A.K. Browne appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Norway
^ "Debraj Pradhan appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Norway".
^ "Air Marshal N.A.K Browne To Be The New IAF Boss".
^ "vNorman Anil Kumar Browne". Retrieved 19 August 2013.
^ "Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne".
^ PTI (20 May 2011). "N.A.K. Browne next Air Chief". The Hindu (online newspaper). The Hindu group. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
^ "air marshal browne to be next IAF chief".
^ "Browne new Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee". Zeenews.com. 31 August 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
^ "Air Marshal Arup Raha to replace Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne as the new Indian Air Force chief".
^ "Former IAF chief NAK Browne to be India's Ambassador to Norway". NDTV. Press Trust of India. 30 April 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
^ "Debraj Pradhan appointed as Ambassador of India to Norway". Archived from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2017.

Military offices
Preceded by Nirmal Kumar Verma	Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee September 2012 – December 2013	Succeeded by Bikram Singh
Preceded by Pradeep Vasant Naik	Chief of the Air Staff (India) July 2011 – December 2013	Succeeded by Arup Raha

[1] Ambassador's Profile

[2] Air Chief Marshal (Retd.) N.A.K. Browne appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Norway

[3] "Debraj Pradhan appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Norway".

[4] "Air Marshal N.A.K Browne To Be The New IAF Boss".

[Bharat-5] "vNorman Anil Kumar Browne". Retrieved 19 August 2013.

[6] "Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne".

[7] PTI (20 May 2011). "N.A.K. Browne next Air Chief". The Hindu (online newspaper). The Hindu group. Retrieved 10 May 2011.

[8] "air marshal browne to be next IAF chief".

[9] "Browne new Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee". Zeenews.com. 31 August 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2012.

[10] "Air Marshal Arup Raha to replace Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne as the new Indian Air Force chief".

[11] "Former IAF chief NAK Browne to be India's Ambassador to Norway". NDTV. Press Trust of India. 30 April 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2019.

[12] "Debraj Pradhan appointed as Ambassador of India to Norway". Archived from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2017.

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v t e Chief of Defence Staff of the Indian Armed Forces
Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (1947–2019)	Sir Rob Lockhart Sir Thomas Elmhirst Sir Edward Parry K. M. Cariappa Sir Charles Pizey Subroto Mukerjee Kodandera Subayya Thimayya Ram Dass Katari Aspy Engineer Bhaskar Sadashiv Soman Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri Arjan Singh Adhar Kumar Chatterji Sam Manekshaw Gopal Gurunath Bewoor Om Prakash Mehra Sourendra Nath Kohli Tapishwar Narain Raina Hrushikesh Moolgavkar Jal Cursetji Om Prakash Malhotra Idris Hasan Latif Ronald Lynsdale Pereira K. V. Krishna Rao Dilbagh Singh Oscar Stanley Dawson Arun Shridhar Vaidya Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani Denis La Fontaine Jayant Ganpat Nadkarni Surinder Mehra Sunith Francis Rodrigues Laxminarayan Ramdas Bipin Chandra Joshi S. K. Kaul Vijai Singh Shekhawat Shankar Roychowdhury Satish Sareen Ved Prakash Malik Sushil Kumar Sundararajan Padmanabhan Madhvendra Singh Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy Nirmal Chander Vij Arun Prakash Shashindra Pal Tyagi Joginder Jaswant Singh Sureesh Mehta Deepak Kapoor Pradeep Vasant Naik Nirmal Kumar Verma Norman Anil Kumar Browne Bikram Singh Arup Raha Sunil Lanba Birender Singh Dhanoa Bipin Rawat
Chief of Defence Staff and Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (2020–2021)	Bipin Rawat
Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (2021–2022)	M. M. Naravane (acting)
Chief of Defence Staff and Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (2022–)	Anil Chauhan
(**Seconded from the British Armed Forces)

v t e Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force
Air Marshal Commanding, Royal Indian Air Force (1947–1948)	Sir Thomas Elmhirst**
Chief of the Air Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Air Force (1948–1950)	Sir Thomas Elmhirst**
Chief of the Air Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Indian Air Force (1950–1955)	Sir Thomas Elmhirst Sir Ronald Ivelaw-Chapman Gerald Gibbs** Subroto Mukerjee
Chief of the Air Staff (1955–present)	Subroto Mukerjee Aspy Engineer Arjan Singh Pratap Chandra Lal Om Prakash Mehra Hrushikesh Moolgavkar Idris Hasan Latif Dilbagh Singh Lakshman Madhav Katre Denis La Fontaine Surinder Mehra Nirmal Chandra Suri Swaroop Kaul Satish Kumar Sareen Anil Tipnis Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy Shashindra Pal Tyagi Fali Homi Major Pradeep Vasant Naik Norman Anil Kumar Browne Arup Raha Birender Singh Dhanoa Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria Vivek Ram Chaudhari (incumbent)
(**Seconded from the Royal Air Force)